Movie review: ‘Once Upon a Time’ is Tarantino’s homage to Hollywood

Dana Barbuto More Content Now

Thursday

Jul 25, 2019 at 10:32 AMJul 25, 2019 at 10:32 AM

“Once Upon Time … in Hollywood” is writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature, a fairy tale set in 1969, and informed by the gruesome Charles Manson murders, a growing intolerance of hippie culture and his unconditional love for Tinseltown, warts and all.

It comprises dual stories fused by a tangential connection to one another. Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a fictional, fading movie star. Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is his longtime stunt double/go-fer. They tool around L.A. in Rick’s pale-yellow Cadillac indulging an easy-going relationship fueled by a mutual respect for whiskey sours and Bloody Mary’s.

Rick lives on Cielo Drive, smack next door to Roman Polanski, fresh off his “Rosemary’s Baby” success, and his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). The Polanski’s are the toast of the town, enjoying nights partying at the Playboy mansion in Bel Air with pals, Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis) and hairstylist Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch). Miles away in the desert, a commune of hippies, the Manson Family, resides at the sprawling and now-defunct Spahn Movie Ranch.

On the night of Aug. 9, 1969, members of the cult followed Manson’s orders to brutally murder Tate, Sebring and three other guests at the Cielo Drive estate. (Legend has it the actual target was supposed to be the mansion’s previous owner, Doris Day’s son, Terry Melcher, who reneged on producing Manson’s songs.) The hideousness of the crimes shocked the world and signaled a hippie culture gone off the rails. Before you can say “Helter Skelter,” Tarantino crafts a version of those events in his fairy tale, then takes almost three hours tying it all together. But, “Wow!” is all I’ll say.

The movie’s marquee star is Tarantino’s cinematic vision, full of the director’s genre - Westerns, Nazis, visceral violence, flashbacks, narration, inspired casting, cool cars, a rich sense of time and place, and of course, barefooted women. At times, it feels a little self-indulgent and the camera might linger a little too long on Robbie’s backside, reveling in her leggy blondeness. As Tate, Robbie doesn’t have many lines, but Tarantino spends a lot of time with her. We see her living her life in Los Angeles, going out to dinner, picking up a friendly hitchhiker, ducking into a theater to watch herself in “The Wrecking Crew” - and feeling on top of the world, giddy over the audience’s warm reaction to it. This downright charming scene in the midst of murder and mayhem is just one of Tarantino’s marvelous juxtapositions.

Another of Tarantino’s unique skills is his ability to blend excruciating tension (Cliff’s visit to Spahn Ranch is straight-out of a horror film) with giddy bouts of laughter (Cliff’s terrific fight with Bruce Lee, played by Mike Moh, on the set of “The Green Hornet”). And Rick has a fantastic meltdown in his trailer following a spell of self-loathing after a conversation with his 8-year-old co-star (Julia Butters, the scene-stealer from the sitcom “American Housewife”). She’s a gem.

While Tarantino is able to tell a great story and maintain just the right buoyant tone throughout, he is also a fine director of actors. It is the brilliant cast he has assembled that makes “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” the triumph that it is. Those include Pitt, who’s all swagger and sideburns, and DiCaprio, humming along at his manic best.

Even the minor roles pop, exemplified by cameos from Bruce Dern, Luke Perry, Dakota Fanning, Lena Dunham, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell and the pit bull Brandy. The movie is an achievement of an extraordinary talent and a sign that filmmaking is capable of moving in new and exciting directions.

Fairy tales exist to teach a lesson, to pass along wisdom and truths. And in “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” Tarantino has crafted a doozy of a yarn. I can’t think of another contemporary director who could imagine such fascinating characters or situations. The greatest compliment I can give is that after sitting for two hours, 45 minutes, I was immediately ready to do it again.

Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.Movie review